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Talks resume in Geneva on Tuesday on treaty to curb

plastics

pollution

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Oil states challenge treaty provisions, push for voluntary

measures

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US seeks treaty focused on waste disposal, not production

limits

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Small island states demand funding for pollution cleanup

By Olivia Le Poidevin and Valerie Volcovici

GENEVA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Hopes for a "last chance"

ambitious global treaty to curb plastic pollution have dimmed as

delegates gather this week at the United Nations in Geneva for

what was intended to be the final round of negotiations.

Diplomats and climate advocates warn that efforts by the

European Union and small island states to cap virgin plastic

production - fuelled by coal and gas - are threatened by

opposition from petrochemical-producing countries and the U.S.

administration under Donald Trump.

Delegates will meet officially from Tuesday for the sixth

round of talks, after a meeting of the Intergovernmental

Negotiating Committee (INC-5) in South Korea late last year

ended without a path forward on capping plastic pollution.

The most divisive issues include capping production,

managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and

financing to help developing countries implement the treaty.

Delegates told Reuters that oil states, including Saudi

Arabia and Russia, plan to challenge key treaty provisions and

push for voluntary or national measures, hindering progress

toward a legally binding agreement to tackle the root cause of

plastic pollution.

Government spokespeople for Saudi Arabia and Russia were not

immediately available for comment,

Andres Del Castillo, senior attorney at the Center for

International Environmental Law (CIEL), a non profit providing

legal counsel to some countries attending the talks, said oil

states were questioning even basic facts about the harm to

health caused by plastics.

"We are in a moment of revisionism, where even science is

highly politicized," he said.

The U.S. State Department told Reuters it will lead a

delegation supporting a treaty on reducing plastic pollution

that doesn't impose burdensome restrictions on producers that

could hinder U.S. companies.

A source familiar with the talks said the U.S. seeks to

limit the treaty's scope to downstream issues like waste

disposal, recycling and product design.

It comes as the Trump administration rolls back

environmental policies, including a longstanding finding on

greenhouse gas emissions endangering health.

Over 1,000 delegates, including scientists and petrochemical

lobbyists, will attend the talks, raising concerns among

proponents of an ambitious agreement that industry influence may

create a watered-down deal focused on waste management, instead

of production limits.

ISLAND STATES VULNERABLE

Plastic production is set to triple by 2060 without

intervention, choking oceans, harming human health and

accelerating climate change, according to the OECD.

"This is really our last best chance. As pollution grows, it

deepens the burden for those who are least responsible and least

able to adapt," said Ilana Seid, permanent representative of

Palau and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

Small island states are particularly impacted by plastic

waste washing ashore, threatening their fishing and tourism

economies. They stress an urgent need for dedicated

international funding to clean up existing pollution.

"Plastics are a concern for human health because (plastic)

contains about 16,000 chemicals, and a quarter of these are

known to be hazardous to human health," said Dr. Melanie

Bergmann of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany.

Jodie Roussell, global public affairs lead at food giant

Nestle and a member of a 300-company coalition backing

a treaty to reduce plastic pollution, told Reuters that

harmonizing international regulations on packaging reduction and

sustainable material use would be the most cost-effective

approach.

French politician Philippe Bolo, a member of the global

Interparliamentary Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, said that

a weak, watered down treaty that focuses on waste management

must be avoided.

Bolo and a diplomatic source from a country attending the

talks said the potential of a vote or even a breakaway agreement

among more ambitious countries could be explored, as a last

resort. Inger Anderson, executive director of the United Nations

Environment Programme, however, said countries should push for a

meaningful pact agreed by consensus.

"We're not here to get something meaningless... you would

want something that is effective, that has everybody inside, and

therefore everybody committed to it," she said.